-As recently as four days ago, Padres GM Kevin Towers said that he has been getting a “ton of calls” from other GMs inquiring about both Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell. However, KT said that it was unlikely that either of them would be traded. Since then, things seemingly have changed….

-Ever since the Jake Peavy to the White Sox trade talks slipped out, the Padres have been very secretive about the information they share with the media regarding trades and rumors. In the XX 1090 radio interview with Darren Smith on Wednesday, Kevin Towers would not let out a word of information concerning any Padres rumors.

-The latest rumor we have on Adrian Gonzalez comes from ESPN’s Buster Olney, who says the Padres and Red Sox talked “at length” about an Adrian Gonzalez trade on Wednesday night. Expect the two teams to still be engaged in discussion today. A deal is quite possible, but the Red Sox would have to include Clay Buchholtz, Michael Bowden or Daniel Bard, and at least another prospect. The Padres are selling high on both Gonzalez and Heath Bell.

-Speaking of Heath Bell, there certainly has been a lot to talk about regarding the Padres’ fiery 31-year old closer. Yesterday, the report from Fox Sports was that approximately 10 to 15 teams were involved in trade discussions with the Padres for Bell, but it was the Marlins who were pursuing Bell the most aggressively.  Other teams like the Yankees and the Rangers were mentioned as having interest.

-Today, Fox Sports tells us that the Rangers aren’t in on the Bell sweepstakes.

-The Padres and Marlins have been in “serious discussions” concerning Heath Bell. According to Buster Olney of ESPN, these discussions were slowed down when the Marlins declined the Pads’ request for lefties Andrew Miller or Sean West.

-The Marlins had been involved in the George Sherill talks until he was traded to the Dodgers. With Sherill off the market, the Padres could drive up the price if the Marlins are that desperate for Bell.

-The Brewers had shown interest in Kevin Correia, but talks between the two teams have slowed down considerably.

-The last update comes from Ken Rosenthal who says that Kevin Towers will meet with management (Jeff Moorad and Tom Garfinkel) to address all of the different trade scenarios, especially those concerning Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell. The Padres have said that they will only make big trades like this if they can see that it makes the team better for the future.

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It was the Dodgers who struck first on Saturday afternoon, and if you’ve watched any ESPN at all you would know that it was Manny Ramirez who struck the first blow. Josh Geer’s first pitch in the top of the second inning was launched by Manny into the left field seats, or “Mannywood South.” It didn’t seem like a smart idea to throw him a first-pitch changeup, as Manny had been right on the offspeed pitches on Friday night, and late on the fastballs. The Padres came back to even in the third when David Eckstein singled in Josh Geer, who had doubled to open the inning. Other than that, Dodger starter Randy Wolf was brilliant. As it got later into the game however, you could tell that it was going to be a battle of the bullpens.

With the Dodgers leading 2-1 in the bottom of the 7th, Ronald Belisario would cough up the lead for them, much to the disappointment of the largely-populated L.A. crowd. Here is where Everth Cabrera would come up clutch. His bases-loaded single drove in Eliezer Alfonso and Tony Gwynn, and his great afternoon was not even done yet. It was only the next inning when he drove in 2 more runs, with the help of Casey Blake’s error. 3 runs scored in both the 7th and 8th innings, and a 7-3 lead seemed quite comfortable.

Heath Bell came on to try and close out the game in the 8th inning, and got his first 5-out save of his career. Although he came out in the 9th struggling, he closed the door by striking out the side.

-The Padres will have their hands full today, with Chad Billingsley on the mound. The only positive thing about this is that Billingsley has a 5.06 ERA in his last 3 starts. Opposing him will be Josh Banks, who ended up pitching well in his first start, earning the win. Another big crowd is expected on hand for today.

-Rumors have been going around about 2 players who could have some value for the Padres. Kevin Kouzmanoff has been involved in rumors that could see him as a Mariner. The Padres have also been talking to the Giants about a possible Scott Hairston trade. In both cases, the Padres would be looking for some pitching.

It would have been hard to follow up Kevin Correia’s great outing from yesterday. Correia went 7 innings, allowing 3 runs in the Padres 7-3 victory. However, Chad Gaudin was able to top it on Sunday night, going 8 shutout innings. He allowed just one hit, walked only two batters, and struck out nine in the Texas heat. All of this coming after his best start as a Padre against the Mariners up in Seattle, a performance in which he struck out 11.

There’s no doubt Kevin Correia and Chad Gaudin have shown flashes of good pitching, but it’s been amazing how they have been able to step into the ace roles that Jake Peavy and Chris Young had before getting hurt. With Young possibly not coming back until after the All Star Break, and Peavy out at least into August, these two guys are going to have to keep up the good work if the Padres want to have any say in the playoff hunt. (Yes, i said it)

Other Notes:

• Scott Hairston drove in both runs for the Pads on Sunday evening. The first came on a solo home run to left field in the fourth. Then in the sixth, he singled past a drawn-in Rangers infield to score Cabrera. Thanks to Gaudin and closer Heath Bell, that’s all the Padres needed.
• Heath Bell recorded his 21st save of the season, tied for first in the majors.
• Kyle Blanks recorded his second multi-hit game in as many nights against the Rangers.
• The Padres host the Houston Astros for a 4-game series starting tomorrow night. Hopefully we can avenge for the sweep the Astros handed us back in Houston. The first task: Roy Oswalt. 

In his first 2 at-bats, Koumanoff struggled. Withthe bases loaded with one out in the first inning, Kouzmanoff hit an unproductive fly ball to shallow right field. This came after Adrian’s first walk of the game. In his second at-bat, Kouz hit into a double play. Jon Garland looked like he would roll over the Padres once again, and it looked like Jake Peavy would once again not recieve any run support. That was the feeling until the bottom of the 5th. Arizona had a 2-0 lead, and a rally was desperately needed. The Padres got it, starting with Henry Blanco. Blanco walked, and that was followed by a Josh Wilson single. After Jake Peavy got a crucial bunt down, Tony Gwynn knocked in Blanco with a single. Eckstein hit a sac fly to tie up the game, and the big hitters were coming up. However, Garland worked around them, hitting Brian Giles with a pitch and walking Gonzalez. (of course) The last thing Kevin Kouzmanoff wanted to do was leave the bases loaded again. So, on the first pitch, Kouzknocked in 2 runs with an opposite field single. Jake and the Padres now had a 4-2 lead. With Garland still pitching in the 7th, Kouzmanoffput an exclamation point on the night with another 2 out, 2-run hit.

Coming off the respiratory infection, Jake Peavy came up big in this one. Peavy went 7 strong innings, striking out 8 batters. Heath Bell picked up his 17th save.       

Josh Geer took the mound for the Padres, pitching 5 innings, giving up 5 hits and 4 runs. The Arizona 4-run fifth inning against Geer included a 3-run double from Josh Whitesell. The D-Backs then tagged Joe Thatcher for 2 more runs in the sixth, and the Padres found themselves down 6-0. On top of that, they were facing one of the league’s better pitchers in Dan Haren. Haren kept the shutout going until 2 outs in the 7th, when he gave up a solo home run to Kevin Kouzmanoff. Haren finished the sevn innings, only giving up that one run.

He certainly deserved better.

That’s when the D-Backs bullpen came in. The Padres have found success against the D-Backs bullpen this season, and that’s why they weren’t out of it yet. Down 6-1 in the bottom of the 9th, the Padres were to face Juan Gutierrez. Immediately, the Padres came out swinging the bats. Adrian Gonzalez doubled and Chase Headley’s single drove him in to make it 6-2. Gutierrez then walked Giles and retired Kevin Kouzmanoff before being removed for the closer Chad Qualls. Against Qualls, Nick Hundley roped a ground ball that the diving Mark Reynolds couldn’t quite smother and make a play on. With the score 6-3, Chris Burke grounded into a fielder’s choice. With runners on first and third and 2 outs, David Eckstein was to be the pinch-hitter. NOT the guy you’d expect to tie the game with one swing of the bat. Eck wasted no time however, parking a home run down the left field line. The remaining fans at the ballpark went nuts…the score was now tied.

“Nothing Eck does surprises me anymore,” said manager Buddy Black. “He’s a guy who always rises to occasion.”

Unfortunately, no other Padres hitter rose to the occasion on this afternoon. In fact, the Padres didn’t get another HIT after Eckstein’s home run. 

The Padres offense is the definition of streaky: one moment they’ll rally for 5 runs to tie up the ballgame, then they’ll go hitless for the rest of it. The “rest of it,” happened to be a whole other game. The Padres’ bullpen did what they could, with even Chad Gaudin pitching 2 innings. In the 18th inning, Josh Wilson was sent out to the mound. Wilson had last pitched in high school, but he descibed the whole pitching thing as “natural to him.” He almost got out of it, but with 2 runners on and 2 away (on a full count pitch I might add), Mark Reynolds drove an opposite field home run over the out of town scoreboard in right field. The Diamondbacks fans that had stayed at the ballpark rejoiced. (Because who wants to be in Arizona in the summer..?)

Jake Peavy is going to have to pitch the game of his life tonight, whether he’s hurt or not. A complete game would be nice, and Jake has thrown the Padres’ only complete game of the season. Peavy, who is 5-6; takes on Jon Garland, a guy that the Padres’ anemic offense has never fared well against.

Go get ‘em Padres. Make it 10 straight and then some. 

4/27/09: 12-7 Rockies

Everyone has a bad outing in Colorado, and Chris Young had his last Monday night. Young gave up 8 runs on 7 hits and 5 walks, and the Padres offense couldn’t quite keep up, despite taking a 4-2 lead in the third inning. The bullpen didn’t exactly stop the bleeding, as Moreno, Sanchez, and Perdomo all struggled. Jody Gerut homered for the Padres in the loss.

4/28/09: 4-3 Padres

The only bright spot on the roadtrip was the Padres’ Game 2 win in Denver. Chad Gaudin, making his Padres debut, pitched well although he didn’t factor in the decision. Scott Hairston had given San Diego the lead with a homer. When Gregorson allowed 2 runs in the 7th however, the Padres found themselves down 3-2. Single runs in the 8th and 9th innings helped San Diego get the win, with Heath Bell closing it out.

4/29/09: 7-5 Rockies

Aaron Cook pitched his way to his first win of the year. Adrian Gonzalez was pretty much the team’s entire offense, driving 2 home runs. A struggling Padres bullpen would allow the Rockies to get the extra runs that they’d need.

4/30/09: 8-5 Dodgers

Unfortunately, the Padres couldn’t finish April with a better-than .500 record. Josh Geer was less than spectacular, and an error by catcher Nick Hundley in the later innings allowed the go-ahead run to score for the Dodgers.

5/1/09: 1-0 Dodgers

It’s a real shame that Jake Peavy had to face Clayton Kershaw and get no run support in a game where he was electric. Peavy looked like his old self, shutting out the Dodgers for 8 innings. Kershaw did his part, shutting out the Padres for 7. In a battle of the bullpen, the Dodgers win.

5/2/09: 2-1 Dodgers

Another low-scoring affair. Edgar Gonzalez homered in the first for San Diego, and Chris Young pitched 7 great innings. However, the Dodgers would beat the bullpen again, winning in the 10th on Andre Ethier’s RBI single.

5/3/09: 7-3 Dodgers

The Dodgers continued to play great at home, and Chad Billingsley improved to 5-0. Chad Gaudin wasn’t as good in his second start as a Padre, and where the Dodgers could get 3 or 4 runs in an inning, the Padres could only muster 1.

The Pads arrived home after dropping their last 3 games on the road. Kevin Correia took the mound for San Diego, and he got into some trouble in the second. The Bucs loaded the bases, and Correia gave up an RBI single to the opposing pitcher, Ian Snell of all people. Only one run would score on the play, and Correia would escape the jam. In the bottom half of the inning, Adrian Gonzalez led off with a booming drive that cleared the center field wall to tie the game at 1. The home run was Adrian’s sixth home run of the year, and he needs only one more this month to tie the franchise record for home runs in April, an honor that he already shares with a few other Padres.

In the third, the Padres took the lead on David Eckstein’s RBI triple down the left field line. Nick Hundley’s RBI double in the fourth would put the Padres up by 2 runs. However, Correia could not hold the lead after 5 innings, giving up a walk and a double leading off the sixth. Correia’s exit brought on Cla Meredith who gave up a groundball RBI to Brandon Moss, and an RBI single to Andy LaRoche. Both runs were charged to Correia.

PETCO Park is a pitcher’s park, and the Padres relef pitchers felt right at home last night. The combination of Meredith, Mujica, Gregerson, Bell, and Moreno kept the game tied at 3 until the 11th inning, and that’s when the Padres would win it. This was the second extra-inning game of the year for San Diego, and their second in as many games this week. Matt Capps was pitching for Pittsburgh in the 11th. Chris Burke, who came up to take Everth Cabrera’s spot on the roster, drew a leadoff walk. After Capps retired Jody Gerut, Eckstein drew a walk to put 2 on with only one away. Nobody wants to face Adrian Gonzalez right now, so Giles was going to get something to hit. On a 1-2 pitch, Giles drove a high fastball into right field, and Burke raced around to score for the 4-3 victory. After dropping their last 3 games, let’s hope the Padres got back on track with this one. They are currently 10-6, good for 1 1/2 games back of the Dodgers in the NL West race.     

“…I saw ESPN’s promo for tonight’s game. They mention the Mets are opening Citi Field, they mentioned the starting time, but nowhere did they mention the Padres. That gave me the (expletive).” Bell went on to say, “I truly believe that ESPN only cares about promoting the Red Sox and Yankees and Mets–and nobody else. That’s why I like the MLB Network, because they promote everybody. I’m really turned off by ESPN and ‘Baseball Tonight.’ When Jake Peavy threw 8 1/3 innings on Saturday, they showed one pitch in the third inning and that was it. It’s all about the Red Sox, Yankees, and Mets.”

After yesterday’s nice win, I tuned into Baseball Tonight. Karl Ravech, John Kruk, and Peter Gammons were doing this edition inside Citi Field. Clearly they were disappointed that the Mets didn’t win. While they didn’t come out and say it, they acted as if the Padres had ruined the night for them and the city of New York. In an exasperated voice, Karl Ravech reported that the Mets had been beaten in their Citi Field debut by the (sigh) …San Diego Padres. While they did give an interview with Adrian Gonzalez, it was completely awkward because Ravech, Kruk, and Gammons were all sitting asking questions while Gonzalez was standing answering them. Anyone who knows anything about reporting knows that both the interviewer and the interviewee have to be sitting or standing; not doing different things. Talk about a lack of respect.

Then after waking up this morning I turned on “ESPN First Take” and the only reason why they didn’t showing blatant exasperation for us is because they never mentioned anything about us at all! They were talking about how the Mets choked in their new ballpark; like everyone knew that last night was going to be an easy Mets win.

I could maybe expect this coming from the fans, but not from ESPN. (the Eastern Sports Programming Network) The sad part is, I’ve come to expect it. So Padres fans, don’t put up with this garbage. Sometimes I even find myself watching it, but the fact of the matter is that ESPN is extremely biased and are not credible at all. Let’s tune into the MLB Network, where we can listen to some real baseball analysis.

Sweep the Mets. 

Down 3-1, San Diego scored 3 runs against the Dodgers’ bullpen in the 8th. Although there was drama in the 9th inning, Heath Bell was able to nail it down for his second save in as many Padres wins. (More details about this later)

As for the past couple of games, I have been pleasantly surprised watching Walter Silva and ”Cy” Correia (as Dodger fans call him) pitch. On Wednsday night, Silva pitched 5 innings in his major league debut, giving up only 2 runs. It was Edward Mujica and the Padres’ bullpen that would give the game away. On Thursday afternoon, Kevin Correia took the mound. He pitched better than I honestly expected him too. I mean, we hit him around when he was a Giant. If our weak offense of years’ past could’ve hit him, then a loaded Dodgers lineup certainly could. I’m still not sold on Correia, who delivered 6 innings this afternoon, giving up 3 runs and certainly keeping the Padres in the ballgame. However, for us to win games, him doing what he did today would be just fine. Ah, that would bring us to the later innings, when the Padres would pull off something that was quite a rarity last year.

It looked like the Padres were going to go down quietly to the hard-throwing Dodgers bullpen again. After Clayton Kershaw left the game, Ronald Belisario pitched 2 lights-out innings for the Dodgers, striking out four and allowing just a hit. In the eighth, it was up to Will Ohman to take care of the Padres’ lefty duo, Brian Giles and Adrian Gonzalez. Ohman retired Giles, but Adrian Gonzalez was a different story. As we know, Gonzalez can hit for power against left-handers; especially to the opposite field. Adrian did just that, driving one deep out toward left-center field. The home run made the score 3-2 Dodgers, and it was the first homer hit by the Padres this season. Older brother Edgar was also an important part of the inning, as Cory Wade found that out with 2 outs. E. Gonzalez tripled out to center field, and represented the tying run at third. Nick Hundley then came through with a clutch single to tie up the game at 3. The go-ahead blow came from Luis Rodriguez, who couldn’t have had better placement on his RBI Double. The ball landed between Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp in right-center field, and Hundley came all the way around to score to give the Padres the lead.

“I just put head down and kept running,” Hundley said. “It’s adrenaline, you have got a chance to score the winning run. You’ve got to get there.”

The drama wasn’t through yet, however. It was up to Heath Bell in the top of the ninth, trying to preserve the Padres’ comeback victory. He didn’t get off to a good start, as Orlando Hudson tripled on a full count pitch to lead things off. With Manny coming up, the Dodgers would HAVE to bring in the run, right??

Wrong.

Heath Bell kept the heat coming, and even a great fastball hitter like Manny can’t hit it if it’s in the right spot. Bell jammed Ramirez with an 0-2 offering, and Manny grounded to shortstop. Hudson was forced to hold on third base. With one out and Hudson still on third, Bell walked Andre Ethier. It was probably a smart move, considering Russell Martin had been struggling all series long. (Just ask Dodger fans) On an 0-2 pitch, Martin hit a ground ball to second base. The ball wasn’t smoked, and Eckstein knew he had to hurry. They couldn’t have turned it any better. Heath Bell was fired up after the game-ending double play, and PETCO Park erupted.

The Padres are back to .500, and a series win against the Giants could be quite possible, with Jake Peavy and Chris Young both pitching in the series. 

Heath Bell had to pull quite a “stunt” to get out of trouble in the top of the ninth.